The Whole Armor of GOD

I have been blessed on occasion to have opportunity to present a lesson from GOD’s word to the local congregation of Christians with whom I’ve worshipped for the past couple years. I’ll be the first to admit, that my public speaking skills are woefully inadequate given the levity of the subject matter. I can’t imagine any topic that I could speak or write on where I am as concerned about presenting truth as I am when I am speaking on a topic from the Bible. My crutch every time I’ve gotten up to speak has been a visual presentation. It helps the congregation to keep track of what I’m speaking about, and it helps me to stay on topic. As time permits, I’d like to convert those slide presentations and the scripts I used to speak into posts here on my site. I hope you find them as beneficial for you as they have been for me.

(NB: I believe I am within my rights under fair use laws in the United States to use the images presented below as derivative works, except as where otherwise noted. If that is not the case, please let me know and I will remove them.)

One topic that I’ve spoken on, and surely countless myriads of others over the history of the church comes from Ephesians chapter 6; the whole (or full) armor of GOD. The particular Sunday that I presented this lesson was around Memorial Day, and I led off with this slide:

To many, Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer. It’s a weekend for grilling out and spending time with family. For others it has a different meaning.

What many people don’t think about is that the day Memorial Day is set aside to remember those who have died to protect the freedoms that we enjoy so much in this country. There are two verses that come to mind to remind me of this sacrifice. The first is John 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The next is Romans 5:7: For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

Throughout the history of the United States, men and women have done just that. They have died so that we might be free. As great a sacrifice as that was, none of them were perfect, and none of them died so that we could be redeemed from our sin. Jesus did, and he was the only one who could.

We have examples of warfare throughout the Bible. We read of Abraham going into battle in Genesis. We know that David was a warrior king. In the New Testament we read of soldiers, like Cornelius, who were Christians. As Christians, we are all called to be soldiers of Christ, but we fight a spiritual war against our enemy Satan and his demonic followers.

Like soldiers here on earth, we have to be prepared for battle. In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul instructs us to put on the whole armor of God. Read with me in chapter 6 verses 12 and 13.

We see here the general reason why we need armor. Let’s look at a few more good reasons.

First, Peter tells us in his first letter that Satan is as a roaring lion, walking about to see who he can might devour. We get a glimpse of this in the book of Job when Satan was before God in the throne room of Heaven. God asked the devil where he had come from, and the devil responded that he’d be going to and fro on the earth and walking up and down it. Satan was a restless soul, looking to cause trouble. And we know from the accounts of the Gospels that there were others on the Earth with him, as we just read in Ephesians chapter 6. There are principalities, and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world. We cannot face such enemies alone. We need the strength of God that comes from the armor he has provided us. Let’s take a closer look at what that armor is.

First, we must gird our loins in Truth. Ephesians 6:14 tells us: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth… This is the first step in preparing to arm ourselves. So what does girding our loins mean? That’s not a phrase that makes a lot of sense to us today. Let’s take a look at what girding one’s loins refers to.

We have to remember that in the first century in the Middle East and most parts of the Roman Empire, men didn’t wear pants. They wore long tunics. You can imagine how this would have gotten in the way. This is the reason Roman Legionnaires wore short, kilt-like skirts. The illustration shows how someone would roll up their tunic so that it wouldn’t be in the way. With the tunic tied in place, the first step in preparing for battle was complete.

In spiritual warfare, the truth is like that tunic. It has to be always with us whether we are working or fighting. Where the tunic provided basic protection from the elements, the truth is our spiritual base layer. It has to be in place for the rest of the armor of God to go on top of. The truth, God’s word is our foundation.

On top of that base layer of truth, we must layer righteousness. While the truth is essential, just knowing God’s word isn’t enough. Unbelievers can know the truth. We read in Mark 1:24 of an unclean spirit saying to Jesus: “Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God”. We also read in James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble”. If we read on to the next verse in that passage, James make the point of why righteousness must be layered on top of truth: “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”. We can’t just know the truth, we have to have action. Righteousness comes through action. In Romans 4:3 we are told “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness”. This believe had action. In Genesis chapter 17, God commanded that Abraham and the men of his house and their descendants be circumcised. Abraham obeyed. In Genesis chapter 22, God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, and Abraham obeyed, but God saw his faith and provided a sacrifice in Isaac’s place. We know this is a foreshadowing of God sacrificing His own Son, which shows us God doesn’t ask us to do anything He wasn’t willing to do. Our God leads by example, as does His Son.

For us to follow Christ’s lead, we have to have the right footwear to endure the long march. Think about a time in your life when you were walking in an ill-fitting, uncomfortable pair of shoes. Bad shoes make everything harder. The shoes we are told to wear are designed to make the march ahead possible.

After we’ve gird out loins, put on our breastplate, and laced up our shoes getting ready to march, we have to take up our shield. Our spiritual shield is a shield of faith. With a strong faith, we are told by Paul that we can quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Our shield of faith gives us courage. We hold it in front of us to deflect the attack of our enemy. The Romans had a tactic called a shield wall where the legionnaires would overlap their shields to provide a near-inpenatrable defense. Like the Legionnaires, we are stronger as Christians when we are supporting each other.

The last essential piece of armor is the helmet. The head is where reason and observation dictate action. A blow to the head impacts our ability to engage in action, and a hard enough blow kills us. We can take a lot of other damage to other areas of our bodies, but our heads are a weak point. Salvation is protection for the life to come. And when we put on salvation, we are called to action.

Finally, in this inventory of items for spiritual warfare, we must take up the sword of the Spirit. Paul tells us this is the Word of God. The Bible is our offensive weapon. If we choose any other text, we’ve chosen wrong. No other book is up to the task of fighting against Satan and his followers.

In this spiritual war, we are guaranteed victory, but not necessarily in this life. In the spirit of Memorial Day, I’d like for us to consider several other soldiers of Christ who fought the good fight, but paid with their lives. As you can see from this list, they did not live out peaceful years and die of old age. Like the service members we honor this weekend in America who died in combat, our brethren listed here died in spiritual combat. They await their reward on the day of Judgement. We may not be called to be martyrs, but we might fight the good fight.

As Christians, we are enlisted in the army of God. If you’re not a Christian, you are not a part of this army. In fact, you are fighting for the enemy. Fortunately, you can make this right. Cross the battle line and get on the winning side.

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Published by Jeremy B. Blevins

Jeremy B. Blevins is an cybersecurity professional and novice historian, heraldist, and genealogist, with keen interest in the mechanics of balancing expanding technical capabilities with maintenance of cultural heritage.
Mr. Blevins practices a primitive form of sola scriptura Christianity devoid of any doctrine or creed outside the Bible. He applies these principles to be a disciple of Christ, good husband and father, loyal worker, and trustworthy friend. To that end, Mr. Blevins would share with you the meaning of life: "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, ESV)
View all posts by Jeremy B. Blevins

Opinions expressed by commenters on this website are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of the Jeremy B. Blevins.
Jeremy B. Blevins is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by commenters.